Festival Updates: Latest NYFF, Toronto, London and Venice Adds

Festival Updates: Latest NYFF, Toronto, London and Venice Adds

The 49th New York Film Festival keeps adding to its line-up–with more venues, more is possible—from documentaries to special anniversary screenings. The 2011 NYFF will premiere the new ending to Joe Berlinger’s and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, which will premiere on HBO in 2012 (Parts 1 and 2 will be rebroadcast and available for streaming in the wake of the release from prison of the West Memphis Three). Oliver Stone will host a sneak preview of the first three installments of his ten-part documentary project for Showtime, The Untold History of the United States, which focus on the events leading up to World War II. Special anniversary screenings include the 20th anniversary of James Ivory’s Howard’s End, the 10th anniversary of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, and the 10th anniversary of Japanese animator Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away.

In other festival news, 360, starring Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, and Anthony Hopkins, will open the 55th BFI London Film Festival on October 12. 360 director Fernando Meirelles opened The Constant Gardener, which also starred Rachel Weisz (who won the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance), at the London Fest in 2005.

The Toronto Film Festival also added more films Tuesday, including Cannes entries from Aki Kaurismaki (Le Havre), the Dardennes brothers (Kid with a Bike) and Gus Van Sant (Restless). The full line-up is here. The Mavericks section added new players who will talk about their films, including Francis Ford Coppola, Deepa Mehta, Albert Maysles, Tilda Swinton and Christopher Plummer, Neil Young and Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker. And Toronto’s free programming will include the debut of academic Mark Cousins’ 15-hour documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey, which will unspool in pieces during the fest’s ten days. James Franco and Gus Van Sant will also discuss the Future Projections installation Memories of Idaho.

The Venice Film Festival also updated its schedule, which includes Stockholm East directed by Simon Kaijser, Gianni Pacinotti’s The Last Man on Earth, and Nicholas Ray’s We Can’t Go Home Again.